The things we do for love…

And, by “we,” I mean Michael. And the apparently Costa Rica-bound Toby. And quite possibly Dwight, who agreed to hit the Big Apple out of devotion to Michael.

Let’s start with one of the smaller, squirmier arcs of last night’s episode: Toby’s flirting with Pam, culminating in a knee caress so bizarre that it managed to make the lobby situation even more tense. I’m looking forward to seeing the impact of those moments in the episodes to come, assuming that Toby doesn’t actually move to Costa Rica out of mortal embarrassment.

Speaking of romance, it’s hard to believe that Michael hasn’t found a Jan replacement right there at Dunder Mifflin, given that it’s such a hot bed of passion. For a small office, it has produced a surprising number of couples (Pam and Jim, Angela and Dwight, Angela and Andy, Ryan and Kelly, Kelly and Daryl and Phyllis and Bob Vance, Vance Refrigeration).

The problem seems to be that none of the women in the office — or, apparently, in Scranton — have “a certain Crawford-ness.” And so, he left town to hit a New York hot spot that Ryan frequents, perhaps hoping to lose Dwight, his second-choice wingman, so that he could hang with Ryan and a bevy of hotties instead. (One of the best aspects in the episode was that Dwight — an odd man, yes, but secure in his oddness in a way that’s sort of appealing — was the only one of the three to actually get a little action.)

Michael didn’t seem particularly concerned that Ryan was mostly hanging out with a smaller version of his scruffed-up self — an apparent Hobbit, to Dwight’s eyes — or by Ryan’s twitchiness or frequent trips to the restroom. Of course, he also wasn’t at all surprised by Ryan’s overjoyed response to the sight of Michael and Dwight at the club — a sure sign to the folks at home that something was terribly awry.

Michael is not completely clueless (though he does come close). He seemed to pick up on the “That’s so cool, Grandpa” tone in the much-younger-woman’s response to his story about his aborted plans to get a “Back to the Future” tattoo. And so, his quest for “older girls” continued.

In another show, the Ryan-with-a-drug problem storyline might set off alarms that we are heading toward very-special-episode territory, but Michael’s “Wire”-inspired advice to him about what he should do for his “friend” calmed those fears.

Who would have thought that a bunch of people trapped at work would be so funny? (Side note: Couldn’t Bob Vance, Vance Refrigeration, as head of one of the Five Families, have done something to help his beloved Phyllis and her co-workers escape sooner? I’m assuming that he was out of town, and that’s why he wasn’t able to come to the rescue.) The look on Jim’s face at the key points in the evening — the realization that his seemingly can’t-miss plan to work later on Friday had a huge flaw, that painful round of “name that security guard,” his summoning of Oscar to talk to the cleaning crew — suggested that his deepest worry at this point is that he might be slowly turning into Michael.

So, what did you think, fellow Dunder-ites? Will a post-rehab Ryan be bounced out of New York and back to Scranton, his “favorite branch”? Will Michael and Jan eventually find their way back to each other? How much longer will Angela’s grim “romance” with Andy go on? And do you suppose that Pam is now sitting in Michael’s former chair?